Fraudsters think up new ways of enriching themselves at the cost of innocent, honest and unsuspecting citizens daily.
Many a life has been affected, and sometimes ruined, by identity theft; ATM, card and cheque fraud; skimming, phishing and e-mail hacking; and other banking scams including those involving deposits, refunds, 419s and money laundering.
Fraudsters recently targeted a well-known cell phone business twice in less than a week.
In both cases alert staff of the business managed to catch the fraudsters out before their dirty deals were finalised.
In the first case a man entered the store to apply for a new phone contract and promptly ordered two phones and a tablet to the value of R40 000.
Suspecting that something was wrong when the man couldn’t remember his own ID number, the consultant brought the matter to management’s attention.
One call to the service provider’s forensic department confirmed their suspicions.
The ID presented in the transaction belonged to somebody living in KwaZulu-Natal who had no intention to apply for a new contract.
Acting as if everything was in order, the store contacted the fraudster to inform him that his contract had been approved and that he could collect his phones and tablet.
Little did he know that members of ACSU and the police were on hand to arrest him as soon as he received his goods.
Less than a week later another opportunist tried her luck at the store.
A woman entered the store wanting to do an upgrade, while three others were waiting in their vehicle with a Gauteng registration.
Everything seemed normal and when asked for her ID, the woman produced a “legitimate” green ID book.
With store security jacked up, the consultant asked for a second form of identity, such as a driver’s license.
The woman said she did not have it with her, but that she would quickly go home to fetch it.
Thus far the consultant had no reason to be suspicious, but then the phone rang a few minutes after the woman had left the store.
She asked for the consultant’s cell phone number in order to have a “private” conversation with her.
The woman explained to the consultant that she was not from Ermelo and offered her R200 to “buy cold drink”, if she would just process the upgrade.
After discussing the matter with her supervisor and phoning the cell phone number provided in the documentation, they learned that the phone belonged to a woman in Gauteng and that she had no intention of doing a R25 000 upgrade.
The woman also informed them that she was using an ID smart card and was no longer in possession of the green ID book.
Again the store notified ACSU and set the fraudster up, making her believe the transaction was going to be finalised.
Once she was back in the store, the staff phoned the number in question. While on speaker phone, the rightful owner answered and confirmed that she had no knowledge of the intended transaction.
The fraudster confessed her intention to deceive there and then and was arrested. Seeing the commotion in the store, the other three waiting in the vehicle tried to flee, but ACSU soon caught up with them.
According to store management, their policy now dictates that customers must provide at least two forms of identification and that the phone number on the contract must be verified.
They also warn the public to be careful with their personal information, as these fraudsters are opportunists that will target anyone, anywhere, at any time.
Personal information includes ID, passport, driver’s license, salary advice, municipal bills and bank statements.
There are people who gather personal information about intended victims to make it possible to impersonate them in order to access their funds.
The police suggest the the following to protect you against identity theft:
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DON’T carry unnecessary personal info in your wallet; disclose personal info such as passwords and pins via e-mail, phone or fax; use internet cafes or insecure terminals to do banking; write down PINs and passwords.
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DO protect your personal info at all times; manage personal info wisely; shred or burn personal info when discarding it; store personal and financial documents safely; keep PIN and passwords confidential;lpay attention to account cycles in order to identify intended communications not reaching you.
To prevent your ID being used to commit fraud if it’s ever lost or stolen, you should alert the SA Fraud Prevention Service immediately on 0860 101 248 or at www.safps.org.za.
To protect your interests, your information will be put on a database used by banks and retailers.
